Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 11:11 PM ET

CNQ max pain

Spot (delayed)$47.97
Max pain · Fri, Sep 4$45-6.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$2.35±4.9% by Fri, Sep 4
Put/Call OI0.4670 puts / 153 calls
Call wall$49largest call OI
Put wall$42largest put OI
IV3026.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$27Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $42

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$42.5-11.4%4d
Fri, Aug 28$45-6.2%11d
Fri, Sep 4$45-6.2%18d
Fri, Sep 11$45-6.2%25d
Fri, Sep 18$45-6.2%32d
Fri, Sep 25$45-6.2%39d
Fri, Oct 16$50+4.2%60d
Fri, Dec 18$40-16.6%123d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot45394245475053$1M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 45 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot4539434649525858
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)CNQ open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 4.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot45394346495288
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spot40434548505355%23%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 25.5% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 4

spotflip 423943464952+$16K$16K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Sep 4

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.96-0.01400.01620.01-0.01-0.04
0.93-0.01420.02920.01-0.01-0.07
0.91-0.01430.03990.02-0.01-0.09
0.88-0.02440.05460.02-0.02-0.13
0.82-0.02450.07420.03-0.02-0.18
0.74-0.03460.09750.04-0.03-0.26
0.64-0.03470.11890.04-0.03-0.36
0.52-0.03480.12890.05-0.03-0.49
0.39-0.03490.12230.04-0.03-0.62
0.29-0.03500.10470.04-0.03-0.72
0.21-0.02510.08430.03-0.02-0.80
0.15-0.02520.06590.03-0.02-0.86
0.12-0.02530.05100.02-0.02-0.90

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 13 strikes around the money — all 14 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot3542.545.548.552.5652K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot1532.53943.5485424K24K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 99K call contracts, 38K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: CNQ workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk